The historic 152-room Athenaeum Hotel at Chautauqua Institution faces Chautauqua Lake. It claims to be one of the first hotels with electric lights.

A lifelong learning experience at Chautauqua Institution begins with a gate pass, a good pair of shoes and a seat cushion.

Starting June 22, thousands of visitors will begin filling the quaint Victorian- and colonial-style cottages and homes lining the brick streets of Chautauqua, two hours away in western New York. A nonprofit educational community, Chautauqua Institution was founded in 1874 as a continuing education center for Sunday school teachers. Though begun by Methodists, Chautauqua has been an ecumenical education location since its beginning.

I spent the summer of 2010 interning at The Chautauquan Daily, the six-day-a-week newspaper for the Institution.

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Any Chautauquan will tell you Chautauqua is an experience.

I call it an intellectual summer camp. Steeped in history and tradition, Chautauqua can feel slightly like the summer retreat from "Dirty Dancing," minus the dirtbag waiter and inane sing-a-longs. Also, Chautauqua's dance company could run Patrick Swayze's Johnny Castle out of town and keep Baby out of the corner.

A passport to Chautauqua is the visitor's gate pass. Purchasing a pass allows entrance to all of the Amphitheater lectures and performances, morning worship services, afternoon lectures at the Hall of Philosophy, swimming at the public beaches, access to the library and use of public transportation on the grounds. There is no charge for a gate ticket for anyone 12 and younger or 90 and older. Sundays are free admittance days at the Institution.

On 750 lakeside acres, Chautauqua is supported by four pillars: religion, arts, education and recreation. Signatures of Chautauqua are the two lecture series -- 10:45 a.m. Morning Lectures in the 4,000-seat Amphitheater and 2 p.m. Interfaith Lecture Series in the Hall of Philosophy.

Lectures have been a part of Chautauqua since it was founded as the Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly, an out-of-school educational training for Sunday school teachers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued his "I Hate War" speech there in 1936.

Each week is assigned a general theme around which programming is built. This season's themes include "Our Elegant Universe," "The Next Greatest Generation," "America, 1863," "Markets and Morals," "Reimagining the Social Contract," "The Pursuit of Happiness," "Crime and Punishment," "Diplomacy," "Turkey: Model for the Middle East?" and "Health Care: Reform and Innovation."

The afternoon lectures examine the week's theme through a religious and spiritual lens. They're given in the Hall of Philosophy, an open-air structure, and I'd recommend bringing a folding chair or a blanket, as seats tend to fill up quickly. Also -- and this goes for both the Hall and the Amphitheater -- bring a seat cushion.

Because most of the rental properties and hotels on the Institution grounds do not provide parking, Chautauqua is a predominantly pedestrian community. Parking is available opposite the Institution for $8 per day in the main lot.

Being a pedestrian community, there's a certain sort of muscle memory to Chautauqua. Once trod a few times, a visitor's path from lodging to Amphitheater for a lecture or symphony performance is as familiar as home. A waffle cone or cup of ice cream from the Brick Walk Cafe & Gazebo is a popular treat after a night at the Amphitheater.

Without the noise of vehicle traffic, the sounds of Chautauqua really come to life. The fountain in Bestor Plaza, the center of the Institution, lives with children playing, artists drawing and musicians in a collection of mediums performing throughout the day.

In early May, I drove to Chautauqua to talk to Tom Becker, the Institution's president. If anyone can put Chautauqua into words, he can.

"With Chautauqua, it's a little like describing chocolate to somebody who has never tasted it," he said. "Without the experience there's the inability, really, of conveying the full complexity.

"It's the pre-eminent model of lifelong learning on the planet. The pedestrian culture of walking to things, the kind of human scale at which (Chautauqua) is written, is really valuable, I think. It both allows someone to spend time finding an inner voice but also encourages a certain amount of free flow dialogue among people who might otherwise not know a thing about one another."

Although each week has a great lineup of speakers, this season's lecturers with the most appeal to me include Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC's "All in With Chris Hayes" (July 1); David Brooks, op-ed columnist for The New York Times (July 16); Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS (July 26); Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (July 29); and Dr. Don Berwick, former administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (Aug. 23).

Arts and recreation also are mainstays of a Chautauqua experience. Sailing, fishing and water sports are a huge draw for beginning and experienced nautical buffs and the Institution has classes and equipment rentals for water-related activities. And, to spare you a scolding, the body of water in which you'll be swimming/sailing/fishing is Chautauqua Lake, never Lake Chautauqua. You will be corrected. On a similar note, it is never Chautauqua Institute it is always Institution.

Fancy an artistic experience? Chautauqua has an opera company, a theater company, a dance company and a symphony in residence. Opera this year includes "Peter Frimes" (July 6) and "Falstaff" (July 26 and 29). This year's plays are "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (June 28 to July 7), "Clybourne Park" (July 19 to 28) and "The Comedy of Errors" (Aug. 9 to 16).

Religion remains an important part of Chautauqua because religion and spirituality are an integral part of how many people live.

"I don't think there's enough attention being paid to the incredible religious pluralism of this country," Becker said. "When it's talked about, it's often talked about in the difficulties that brings, but it's also one of the great beacons that I think we send to the rest of the world. We can do it together, and we can do it without demeaning the other's pathway to truth, and that people of faith can, in fact, not have to dumb down their differences in order to have meaningful conversations about how a community ought to work and what our obligations are to one another emerging from a set of moral precepts that have to do with it."

With the Institution's emphasis on lifelong learning, education opportunities are available for young and old. Classes are found in areas including art, dance, yoga, music and writing. Chautauqua is home to the oldest continuous book club in America, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, which has been reading together since 1878.

Chautauqua Institution is a multi-generational gathering place. While adults may attend lectures and programs during the day, there is a wide variety of children's activities. Children's school, a developmental preschool, is available for ages 3 to 5 on a weekly basis. Other kid-friendly offerings include Group One, a full-day program for kids entering grade school, and Boys' and Girls' Club, a day camp program for those in grades two through 10 -- also offered on a weekly basis.